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“I got my Whispering Pines Tea order in the mail today.
I have been wanting to try this tea since Brenden first introduced it.
So badly have I been wanting to try this, that even though I...”
Read full tasting note

“This was another one in my Whispering Pines order.
Disappointed, if you are going to call a tea dark chocolate, there should be quite a bit of chocolate notes to it. Yes understand this is...”
Read full tasting note

From Whispering Pines Tea Company

Brewed strong, this dark roasted o’olong has notes of oak, toasted seaweed, roasted coffee, and dark chocolate! Brewed light, you get notes of a smoky sweet caramel mocha! Dark Roast Anxi Tieguanyin is very bold and thick due to the multi-day slow-roast that gives it its caramelized flavor. Besides being incredibly smooth plain, adding a splash of coconut milk to this tea will transform it into a mouthwatering desert tea! There is no bitterness with even very long steeps, making this the perfect companion for the coffee lover or road-tripper!

Hint: Add vanilla ice cream to a strong cup of this tea instead of milk to make a fantastic treat!

*To intensify the notes, brew 1tsp of leaves in 8oz of boiling water for 10 minutes.

Whispering Pines Tea Company is dedicated to bringing you the most original, pure, beautiful tea blends. We use only the highest quality ingredients available to create additive-free teas teas inspired by the pristine wilderness of Northern Michigan. Our main focus is on customer satisfaction and quality.

29 Tasting Notes

I got my Whispering Pines Tea order in the mail today.
I have been wanting to try this tea since Brenden first introduced it.
So badly have I been wanting to try this, that even though I live 40 minutes away from where my mail arrives, and even though I still had a day of running around and doing errands to do, I actually drove all the way back home to prepare this tea and put it in a go mug.
( I would not admit this to many people, but, I know you dear fellow Steepsters understand this tea-driven bit of craziness )
Now, if I had not been listening to Sense and Sensibility on audio book in the car and if I had turned on the tv or radio once I got home, instead of dancing impatiently ’round the kettle I would have heard the major storm warnings, and the telling people to stay off the roads.
Instead, I left the house, noticed that it was a rather black looking sky (where we live every couple of days it looks as if our world may end, we get storms blowing through from Nevada, Utah, Montana and Wyoming…when to be scared is when those storms collide with one another, such as today)
Just as I was getting to the bit in the book where Marianne insists on taking a walk even though its stormy, and as the audio book lady said “suddenly the clouds united over their heads and a driving rain set full in their faces”,blinding sheets of rain and hail hit my car fast!
I could barely see, but thought I saw a turn out or a dirt road or something other than the main highway I was on, so I pulled off as far as I could and waited out the storm, which lasted 20 minutes.
Lightening struck all around me.
It was frightening, BUT I had hot tea.
To distract myself from probable electrocution I concentrated on the tasting of the tea.
I am not one for chocolate flavored teas.
Then why on earth did you want to try this tea so badly, I am sure you are asking, because it is as I hoped, not really exactly like chocolate.
Its more roasty and toasty, more like toasted nuts.
Has notes of oak and seaweed.
Its rich and dark and unexpected.
And yet, still not losing one bit of its oolong-ness.
Although a Mr. Willoughby did not come to my rescue, I had something better accompanying me during the storm.
I very much look forward to drinking more of this tea…from the safety of my arm chair at home.

Oh my! Well, I guess a nearby lightning strike would out a damper on things, or at least make things a little…tense. LOL! Glad you are okay, and now I really want to read Sense and Sensibility! Better charge my tablet…

Traveling Tea Box C #13
This is a very roasty oolong. I steeped it 4 times. The first steep smelled like burnt coffee but was definitely a creamy tea. Dark chocolate is not supposed to be creamy. It’s bitter. I took a whole class on chocolate and tasted what raw cacao tastes like and all types of high quality dark chocolate taste like. And this resembles that perfectly. And I love it. I will be keeping the last teaspoon of this :) thank you Shelley_Lorraine for adding this! I had this all day today!

This tea takes on so many different flavor attributes depending on how you steep it. You should try whispering pines super-long steep recommendation too (10 min). Some day, I’ll need to try their suggestion for adding ice cream…

I worked at splash café for a little when I first moved here! But now I’m a full time baker at slo baked bakery. Broadway bagel? I though there was only the house of bagel which I’m am not a fan of at allllllll! I love panera breads bagels and spreads, but nothing is as good as the bagels back home in salinas at the bagel corner.

This was another one in my Whispering Pines order.
Disappointed, if you are going to call a tea dark chocolate, there should be quite a bit of chocolate notes to it. Yes understand this is a straight oolong, but I also understand that most dark oolongs have a hint of chocolate notes to them. I don’t think this one is special, or has any more chocolate to it than any other oolong. It’s a decent dark oolong, but certainly not dark chocolate. (Or maybe I’m just fussy because I’ve been drinking so many straight blacks that have tons of chocolate notes to them that I was expecting that from this oolong). All in all just ok.

Preparation

Cold-brewed this last night. I like it better this way but it’s nowhere close to a favorite. It’s just too roasty. This way the dark chocolate notes come out much more strongly, so it’s like drinking a dark chocolate bar mixed with a really dark oolong. Maybe my problem with this tea is that they don’t seem to blend together? I’m really not sure, but the remaining little bit is probably going to the swap pile.

Today was another operation mega clean. I gotta say, having american thanksgiving so late in November (vs the Canadian Thanksgiving) means my house is still somewhat clean for Christmas cleaning from cleaning I did for Thanksgiving. A good roasty oolong or more often a pu’er is the tea I drink while cleaning. Must be that getting tea drunk makes for a more fun and productive cleaning.

This tea is tha bomb! I love a good dark toasty oolong and this is it! Tastes like a dark roast Big red robe oolong! Dark chocolate notes, roasty campfire, and creamyness. I might have to buy this tea for my collection in the new year.

Thank you bluebelle for a sample of this oolong! This tea confuses me, but in an exciting kind of way. It’s definitely unlike other oolongs that I’ve had (& I’ve been drinking a lot of them lately). First off, it has that nice, roasted taste with a bit of nuttiness in there as well. What confuses me is the “dark chocolate” part. I’m not detecting any chocolate-y notes, but I’m rather getting a roasted seaweed taste from it. I actually quite enjoy it, but I do not think it is aptly named.

Thanks to a bunch of customer comments, I’ve decided the change the name of this tea. The first harvest I had about a year and a half ago was pure dark chocolate, and I had hope for the future harvests being just as chocolatey, but not so much :/ Still love this one though, and thanks for the feedback! :)

It’s already a given that I love dark roasted oolongs. The darker and roastier the better.

I was curious about this one, being labeled “dark chocolate” oolong. Obviously, it’s not chocolate flavored, but I wondered how it came upon the name. I did not detect any obvious chocolate notes, but the same hidden sweetness that I find in all dark roast oolongs. Who knows, maybe that is supposed to be ‘chocolate.’ There was however something slightly different in the aftertaste of this tea, but I thought maybe it was my imagination. Something vaguely coconut, possibly caramel (caramel teas tend to leave me with coconut-esque after tastes). I really do not like coconut in tea, at all, ever. I kept drinking my cup to cover the aftertaste and by mid-cup, I didn’t detect it anymore. Either I developed tolerance for it or there was just something funky going on with my senses at the time. Oh well!

Preparation

You’re most likely getting the caramel notes since you brewed it on the lighter side of things. To intensify the dark chocolate notes, brew 1tsp of leaves in 8oz of boiling water for 10 minutes. A lot of my teas have special brewing parameters or stories that inspired the tea that you should read up on prior to drinking it. http://whisperingpinestea.com/darkchocolateoolong.html

ah, yes I did re-read the 10 min recommendation (after I already brewed my cup). I always read tea descriptions (but don’t always remember special instructions!). I especially like the stories you include for yours (I even read the one for Manitou mist to my parents when I brought them a sample ;) ).

I’ve seen teas here and there with super long brewing times recommended, but I’ve always been too afraid to try it. I’ve never steeped a tea for 10min! Even my herbals I keep at 5-7min. But I promise I will try this next time (I have plenty to experiment with).

I left this tea unrated for now because I also wasn’t sure if maybe the two cookies I had eaten previously were messing with my tastes. Of course I enjoyed it as I like roasted oolongs in general, but because of this I have to be picky about deciding which ones will join my regular purchases :)

:) Good to hear that you’ve been reading the descriptions! I feel like a lot of people miss out on the full experience because they don’t know what the tea was inspired by. Also, when you make The Sleeping Bear Blend, make sure to get a second infusion on it, and wait about 20 minutes between the first and second infusions. The pine flavor will really shine in that second infusion :)